Door buffer



June 23, 1925.

1,542,813 J. "r. ATWOOD DOOR BUFFER Filed Nov. 19, 1924 Patented June23, 1925'.

ames T. iswocn, cement-"en, I'Lniiiois.

P ATENT' OFF-ICE;

noon name.

Amman in-ea'mvember 1 1924. SeriaYNo. 750,729.

To allwho'm itmayconce'm:

Be it 'known that I, JAMES T. 'Awwoon, a citizen of the United States,residing" 'at Rockford. in the county of \Vinnehago and State of-Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in DoorBuffers, of which the following is aspecification.

This-invention relates to buffers for doors and other*c1osuiesat1dwhi1eof geiieral application, is es ecially adapted for autofinobile'doors,primarily for dushioning the closing impact of the door and preventingrattling in the losed position.

Thejpresent invention is an improvement over that'type ofantoinobil'edoor Butter in which the resilient bufie'r block was held in position bya "screw passing "centrally through 'tlieblock and metal casing which"covered in art the tenet the block. S'uch construction 'isobjectionable because of the restricted resiliency as the butter "due tothe locatio'n "of the fastening screw and to the shape -or the metalasing which caused excessive wear on thehufier and 'soonerjor jl'aterresulted-in breaking down the bufier body around the "screw and betweenthe casingand striking face.

Furthermore, in the manufacture of certain makes of automobile bodies ithas become a practice of applyin'gfa-fini sh which will harden quicklywhen subjected to heat as in an oven or kiln. And, inasmuch as the doorbuffers are set in position before the finishing operation an'dthe'rubher buffei hlock will be injured by the heat; it is necessary toremove such bufler blocks before the heat treatment: This ope-rationmade diiiicult in prior constructions in a "screw passes through theblock. One of the primary purposes of my iii- "v'entionfis to provide animproved dbhr huffer wherein the bufferblock may be quickly and easilyremoved Without the necessity of removing a fastening screw or any eX-traneous bufieriastening part; Another purposeji's to provide afsiinpleand i iexpehsive bufier which bbviates the obje tions noted and in whichthe hufier block is held in position in a novel manner by a sheet meta-1retainer without the; use of a screw element passing through theheifer-body: Another purpose is to so shape 3' the heifer-body that itwill substantial conceal tlie metal retainer and also provide"stf'ikin'g face f maximum area, considering the size of the buffer.Still another purpose 1s to so attach the bufier body *to 'a door or adoor casing by means of a metal retainer as not to appreciably impairthe resiliency of the buffer body, whereby to provide a more practicaland durable "construotion. w v 1 Other purposes and attendant advantageswill be appreciated "by those skilled in this art as the inventionbecomes better understood by reference to the following description whenconsidered in connection with the accompanying drawings, in WhichaFigure 1, is a perspective view of a complete bufi'e'r embodying myinvention, show- .it attached to a doorcasing v V F'g. 2-, is fahorizontal view through {the b'ufi'er showing its operative relation tothe casing and door and Fig. 3, is detail section 'talien on the line3+3 of Fig. 2.

, Referring more p ing', my invention consists in the provision of asheet metal retainer designated generally by 4i adapted to be secured asby means of one orinore screws or fastening elements to a door or a doorcasing and a resilient hu'fi'er block designated generally by 5 shapedso as to detachably fit on the retainer and he held thereby without theuse of extraneous fastening means and further articularly to thedrawshaped so as to substantially conceal the 'meta'l retainerj In thepreferred form the retainer is made "of a single piece of sheet metalproviding a flat base portion 6 one end 7 of which is turned at rightangles tothe base portion providing a butter abutment andhav- The ret inisjjigidly ecured to the door casing? hy'means of awe wood screws 11 and10 spaced apart lengthwise of the retainer. It will be manifest,however, that any suitable means might be employed for attaching theretainer to a supporting body such as a door casing or the door as thecase may be.

The resilient buffer block 5, preferably of a rubber composition, isshaped to provide a flat bottom 12 and a top 13 in parallel relation, anend 14 at right angles to the bottom and a cont-act surface 15substantially semicircular, as shown. The bottom 12 is recessed at 16and the end 1 1 is recessed at 17 as shown in Figs. 2 and 3 forreception of the base and end portions 6 and 7 respectively of theretainer. These re cesses 16 and 17 are of a depth corresponding to thethickness of the retainer metal so that the buffer body fits over andsubstantially conceals the retainer, leaving only the end portion 18remote from the end 7, projecting. The bufier body is grooved inwardlyfrom its recesses 16 and 17 to provide sockets 18 for the reception ofthe lugs 8 by edgewise insertion of the buffer body or block onto theretainer. Said sockets 18 are shaped to snugly receive the lugs 8 sothat the buffer body will be slightly compressed when fully positionedon the retainer. By reason of this slight compression and the frictionalcontact between the rubber and metal parts the buffer body will be heldin position by the retainer without the use of extraneous fasteningelements. The retaining lugs are therefore entirely enclosed andconcealed from view by the buffer body. This construction not only givesan improved appearance but it does not restrict the resiliency of thebuffer body as is done in prior constructions in which a fastening screwpasses through the buffer body or in which said body is retained inwhole or in part by a casing part fitting into the top of the bufferbody. As a result, the present construction is more eflicient anddurable than said prior constructions be cause there is the leastinternal obstruction to compression of the body. In other words, withthe present construction I obtain acontact surface 15 of maximum areaand a large body of rubber so retained in position as to eliminaterestricted areas in the path of the lines of compression, whichrestricted areas would soon wear or be broken down by the compressionpressures resulting from the closing impact of a door. Another advantageof my improved construction is that in the event of wear, a shim may beinserted between the end 7 and the buffer body so as to advance the bodyand take up the play.

It is believed that the foregoing conveys a clear understanding of theobjects prefaced above and while I have illustrated but a single workingembodiment it should be understood that changes might be made in detailsof construction without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention as expressed in the appended claims, in which I claim:

1. A door buffer comprising a resilient buffer block, a sheet metalretainer having one end turned up to provide a buifer abutment andhaving side pieces turned up to provide buffer retaining lugs, andfastening means for securing the retainer to a door or door casing, thebuffer block having recesses reaching internally thereof for receptionof said lugs by endwise insertion thereon.

2. A door bufi'er as set forth in claim 1 in which the buffer block isrecessed atits base and end to receive the retainer and cover thecontiguous edges thereof.

3. A-door buffer comprising a resilient bufi'er block, and a sheet metalretainer having one end turned up to provide a buffer abutment andhaving side pieces turned up and disposed wholly within and concealed bya buffer block for retaining the latter.

4. A door buffer comprising a resilient buffer block, a sheet metalretainer therefor having a base portion and an end abutment portion inangular relation and having'side pieces adjacent to said end portionturned inwardly into clove-tail relation to the base portion, andfastening means passing through the base portion for securing theretainer to a door or door casing, the buffer block being shaped forendwise internal reception of said side pieces so as to beretained'thereby when positioned against the end abutment portion and toenclose said side pieces.

5. A buffer adapted for automobile doors comprising a one-piece sheetmetal retainer having a base portion and an end abutment in angularrelation and side pieces turned inwardly to provide bufi'er retaininglugs, fastening means adapted to be passed through the base portion forsecuring the retainer to a door or door casing, and a buffer block ofresilient material having spaced lug-receiving grooves along its basefrom one end, the grooves terminating within the block and being adaptedfor endwise reception of said retaining lugs, the buffer block beingadapted to be pushed onto said lugs into abutting relation with said endabutment and being shaped to provide an arcuate door-contacting face atits end opposite from said abutment.

6. A door buffer as set forth in claim 5 in which the buffer block isshaped to fit over and conceal the marginal edges of the retainer baseand abutment end and to leave extending only the base portion remotefrom said abutment end.

7. A buffer adapted for automobiledoors comprising a one-piece metalretainer hav- 7 ing a base portion and an end abutment in angularrelation and side pieces turned inwardly to provide bufi'er retaininglugs, fastening means adapted to be passed through the base portion forsecuring the retainer to a door or door casing, and a bufler block ofresilient material having spaced lug-receiving grooves along its basefrom one end,

the grooves terminating within the block and being adapted for endwisereception of said retaining lugs, the bufi'er block being adapted to bepushed onto said lugs into abutting relation with said end abutment.

JAMES T. ATWOOD.

